An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it, Part 9

Author: Gillespie, Charles Bancroft, 1865-1915; Curtis, George Munson
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Meriden, Conn. Journal publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1252

USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Meriden > An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it > Part 9

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1 Wallingford Land Records, Vol. III., p. 520.

EARLY HISTORY.

Brook and also easterly, running in a straight line on its present course, and it will give us the highway laid out by the selectmen in 1721. In order to picture it as it was, it is necessary to obliterate, in our minds, East Main street from Colony street to the Center Congregational church, as that street was laid out at a much later date.1 One's mind is so dominated by this more important street that this ancient layout cannot be understood until we imagine or picture Liberty street as the one highway running from what is now the center of the town to the east. This old road, as it ran east from Harbor Brook bridge, passed just south of the middle of the present location of the Main Street Baptist church and came out at the northern end of what is now Willow street, and it will be readily seen that this is on the line of Liberty street. This old section, now obliterated, was in existence within the memory of people still living. Mrs. Breckenridge in her "Recollections of a New England Town," mentions it.2 This old Liberty street (as we may call it) can still be traced at many points. If one stands on Preston avenue where the old Booth place formerly stood in the extreme eastern part of Meriden and looks west, one can see the old grass grown road bordered by old stone walls and running through the meadows until the hill hides it from view, and on the horizon in the same line one will perceive on a clear day the old "Bill" Johnson place in the extreme western part of the town. It is easy to follow the road on foot for a long distance, but here and there the traces are lost because the ground has been cultivated. The John Yeamans place, built over a hundred and seventy years ago, seems to front only on the meadows until one discovers that it faced this old highway, which has been closed since 1786, at which time the selectmen sold to John Yeamans 1,200 feet of it west of his house.3 The sit- uation of the Brenton or Caspar Hall place is not intelligible until one has in one's mind the fact that the old highway running in front of it was once the only road from Pilgrims' Harbor running east. One hundred years ago Brenton Hall was probably the most prominent man in Meriden and when his house4 was built at an

1 Main Street from Broad Street to Liberty Street was laid out in 1782 and from Liberty to Colony Street in 1812.

2 P. 105.

3 Wallingford Land Records, Vol. XXIV., p. 84. 4 This old house was torn down a year ago. If one rides to the end of the electric car line in East Meriden and then walks up the road running to the north, one is on Preston Avenue. At the top of the hill, about an eighth of a mile from the car tracks, one reaches this old highway running east and west. That part of the highway east of Preston Avenue is still in use and climbs a hill, at the top of which on the south side of the road stood the old Casper or Brenton Hall place. From this point the view is beautiful ; in the south extends the range of Besett or Beseck Mountains with Black Pond at the foot mirroring the rugged cliffs in its sombre waters, while in the west a charming stretch of meadow, wood and vale ends with the grand range of the Hanging Hills. About half a mile to the west on the same old highway stands the John Yeamans house with its old stone chimney still undis- turbed (taken down since this was written). This house was built by Daniel Baldwin about 1730. Chimney Hill derives its name from the old stone chimneys of two or three old houses, left standing after the houses had disappeared. These houses also faced this road. Several old houses once stood on this street that have completely disappeared.

A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.

early date by Rev. Samuel Hall of Cheshire, it was on the main thoroughfare and the present Middletown and Meriden turnpike was not in existence. In the year 1744 (twenty years after Wallingford had acquired the northern half of Meriden) bitter disputes about land boundaries were agitating the farmers, and it was deemed wise to define and lay out the western half of the ancient Wallingford north line. Therefore, on Jan. 25, 1744-45, the selectmen engaged the services of the New Haven county surveyor, John Hitchcock, to run it. He ran "the old north line beginning at northwest corner by Farmington bounds" (now Southing- ton) down to the "white wood stub by west end of Pilgrims Harbor bridge" and stakes were driven every eighty rods the whole distance to define it. Then the selectmen laid out a highway just south of this line beginning at Farmington line and running to the "road that goes west through John Merriam's farm."

In 1735 John Merriam had sequestered land for a road running through his farm, 2 rods wide, beginning at the Country road just north of his house and running west past Beaver Dam brook now known as Sodom brook; this was the first lay out of West Main street. What was done by the selectmen was to run the road now known as Johnson avenue (down the steep Johnson hill just south of the Parker Clock Co. shop) until it came to West Main street, a short distance west of Capitol avenue.1 The extreme western part of Johnson avenue begins at Southington line and is skirted for half a mile on the north by that town ( 1745 Farmington). If one is fortunate enough to own a copy of the 1851 map of Mer- iden (one of the most accurate maps of Meriden ever made and particularly val- uable because it delineates the whole township) and will take a long ruler and place one end on Johnson avenue and the other end on the bit of road running in front of the Brenton Hall place in the extreme eastern part of Meriden, the ruler will show the ancient northern boundary of Wallingford and one will find this line coming down Johnson avenue and thence running very closely to the line of West Main street until it reaches Butler street when the line cuts down through the buildings on the south side of West Main street, coming out in front of Lyon & Billard Co.'s office, over the bridge and through the south part of the Baptist church, up Liberty street, and so on until it runs in front of the Brenton Hall place to Middletown, just as it was laid out by the selectmen so long ago, to show the farmers the northern boundaries of what had been the jurisdiction of Wallingford until 1723. The coast survey map of the Meriden district published by the state will also give this line accurately. Thus the ancient Wallingford boundary line cuts the town into two nearly equal parts.

Mention has been made of the Country road. It was thus that our forefathers called Colony street, meaning, not that it was in the country, but that it belonged to the country or colonial government of Connecticut. This is proved conclu-

1 Wallingford Land Records, Vol. XI., p. 498.

EARLY HISTORY.

sively by a vote of the General Assembly passed at the May session in 1760.1 A committee reported "that upon viewing the road thro' Wallingford Plain they found the same too narrow, and the passing of travellers greatly hindered and obstructed by gates, bars and fences being made and erected across said highway and that they are of opinion that said gates, fences and obstructions should be removed and a highway of four rods wide at least laid open, etc.

"It is, therefore, resolved by this Assembly, That said gates, bars and fences be removed, and the highway thro' Wallingford Plain be laid open at least four rods wide, and the town of Wallingford is hereby required to remove said obstructions and lay open said way accordingly," etc., etc. Had the road not been a government highway the Assembly would not have given the town of Wallingford directions regarding it. It was invariably called Country road until about the year 1800. After that date it was called the Old road until our modern name of Colony street was adopted, which has exactly the same signifi- cance as the early name. They were conveying precisely the same meaning as when we speak of a highway as the state road. There was another Country road leading from Farmington to Wallingford that passed just west of Meriden ter- ritory. There was only one other in Meriden that had a name in those early days, and that was Misery road or path leading from Wallingford village to Dogs' Misery.

John Merriam bought the Bishop farm in 1716 and may have found the house in existence or built it; we cannot tell which, for no mention is made of it in the deed. It stood on the west side of the Country road, the north end extending north as far as the West Main street car tracks, while the south end of the house would, if now in existence, jut into the store of Victor Schmelzer, No. 6 West Main street, possibly touching Griswold, Richmond & Glock and Church & Morse, adjoining. The well was on the north side of the house and will be remembered by many as the old well that once was located in the junction of Colony and Main streets, and which was filled up more than thirty years ago. The old house had probably disappeared before the turnpike (now known as East and West Main streets) was cut through in 1812. The extra width of Main street west of the junction with Colony street is due to the addition of the turnpike to the road two rods wide north of his house opened by Mr. Merriam in 1735. He made this road so as to reach his saw mill, located a little west of where the Waterbury rail- road station stands. North Colony street where it intersects Main street was once much narrower than it is to-day. In 1831 Dr. Isaac I. Hough and Major Elisha A. Cowles conveyed to the town for highway purposes a strip of land twenty feet wide on the west side of Colony where it joins Main and extending north about 300 feet. This was in front of the present location of the Meriden

1 Colonial Records of Conn., Vol. XI., pp. 480-481. 6

A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.

House, Home National Bank and the Wilcox block. The western side of the street before that date was about where the west car track lies. It was as narrow as South Colony street where it enters Main street between the Rogers block and the store of Griswold, Richmond & Glock. Would that some generous soul had made a like gift at that point ! To properly understand the situation of John Mer- riam's house as first built one must divorce from one's mind East and West Main street. The house stood in a wilderness fronting Colony or the Country road that passed through Pilgrims' Harbor, and turned a little at this point, so as to cross the brook. It faced the east and there was no change until Mr. Merriam laid out the narrow road just north of his well. His barn stood on the other side of the Country road, in what he called his Harbor Meadow, and judg- ing from inference only, the Rogers block must stand on part of its site. His ap- ple orchard occupied the meadow northwest of the house and ran up the hill where the Corner school stands and back of the First Congregational church.1 To prop- erly understand the ancient layout of this, the most central and active business point of Meriden, a sketch has been prepared which will show at a glance what can- not be so clearly explained by words.

It is evident that the encroachment on Colony street had been nearly as great here as on the plain in Wallingford. But it took place long before any one now living was born.

We will not leave John Merriam2 (the ancestor of all the Meriden families of that name) until we have given a few more facts concerning his career. He was born in Lynn, Mass., April 25, 1671, the son of William, of that place. He and his brother William (three years older ) came to Connecticut in 1716. John bought the Bishop farm, as already told, while William settled in Cheshire in the vicinity of Roaring Brook or "West Rocks," as it was then called. John brought with him his half grown family consisting of four boys, Nathaniel, John, William and Jo- seph, and four daughters, Rebecca, Ruth, Abigail and Susanna. The family took a prominent place in the community and the sons, when they came of age, built their homes in Meriden, near or on their father's farm, and here they lived and brought up their families and their bodies lie buried in the old cemeteries on Meet- ing House hill and Broad street. There are four of the old Merriam houses still standing in Meriden : Nathaniel, the oldest son, in 1730 bought thirty acres of the Jones farm, lying east of his father's home and probably about the same time built his home which until about the year 1866 stood on the present site of St. Andrew's church. Here Captain Nathaniel lived and died, and his descendants after him ;

1 An enormous apple tree, thirty-one inches in diameter through the trunk, four feet from the ground, stands back of the First Congregational church and just south of the residence of Mrs. George R. Curtis. It is not a modern named species and the fruit is worthless. It is perhaps one of those set out by John Merriam nearly 175 years ago ; it certainly is very ancient.

2 The Merriam family is an entirely distinct and separate family from that of the Merrimans.

- PLAN OF - JOHN MERRIAMS HOME LOT-1735

Y. M. C.A.

CHURCH ST.

- NOW -

DEPOT

MERIDENS BUSINESS CENTRE

BANK

OPENED : 1837

STATE ST.

PADDOCK

BROOK

CAHILL

MERIDEN HOUSE !

HALL & LEWIS

NEW HAVEN

MAIN ST.

OPENED 1812.

אכזר

ROGERS

MORSE & COOK

COOK

HARBOR

THE JOURNAL

L&B

OFFICE

HARTFORD

ARMOUR

THE RECORD

LYON & BILLARD

INDIAN TRAIL.

: PILGRIMS

- OM. TIME IMMEMORIAL PROBABLY

BANK

PALACE BLOCK

2 RD ROAD OPENED BY JOHN MERRIAM-1735.

MAIN ST. OPENED 1812

JOHN MERRIAMS HOUSE

PLATFORM

R.R.

WILLY TO NYOMON 'GGOY LINDO? ?

Drawn by James A. Toner, of City Engineer's office, from notes furnished by writer.

MODERN BUILDINGS AND STREETS REPRESENTED BY DOTTED LINES. ANCIENT ROADS AND BUILDINGS OUTLINED IN HEAVY BLACK LINES.

2 RD. ROAD OPENED BY SELECTMEN-1721.

HANOVER ST.

A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.

until they moved away in 1800, when the house became the property of the Barnes family, and after them it was occupied by Cornelius Hull, until finally it was moved around to Miller street where it stands opposite the office of Manning, Bowman & Co.

The gambrel roof proclaims its age, but its shape alone is about all of the ex- terior that is old. The old stone chimney of giant proportions on the great hearths of which once blazed the fires that warmed and cheered Capt. Nathaniel, has long since disappeared and in its place stands a pigmy substitute for its great predeces- sor. But the sturdy rafters that Capt. Nathaniel put in place still support the

CAPT. NATHANIEL MERRIAM'S HOUSE.

roof, and the great hewn beams and joists are yet doing, the duty they began 175 years ago.

The second Merriam house still standing is a very ancient one to all appear- ances, and was certainly built as early as 1744 and doubtless earlier. Age is de- picted in every angle and line, but the great oaken beams and rafters are still as sound as the day they were cut and hewn in the surrounding forests, and bid fair to last another hundred years without any diminution of strength. The old stone chimney adds dignity and strength, and its massive base covers fifteen feet square in the cellar and the capacious old fireplaces have blazed with logs that would blush with shame if crowded into one of our modern fireplaces, were it possible to do so.

EARLY HISTORY.

This house was built by Joseph, the youngest son, and is still occupied by a descendant-Edward M. Merriam, a great-great-grandson. It stands on Johnson avenue, perhaps half a mile west of the junction with West Main street, and it is necessary to climb a very steep hill before one can gaze on this venerable old monument of early days. The writer has explored it in all its ramifications and it bears the appearance of being in almost the original condition in which it was left when the last nail was driven by the carpenters of colonial days.

The third Merriam house has drifted from its ancient moorings and is now stranded on Camp street, No. 94, near the office of the H. T. Smith Express Co.,

JOSEPH MERRIAM'S HOUSE.

moved there by the late Horace T. Smith. It is so changed from its original ap- pearance that one would never know it. William, the third son, lived in this house and it stood where the Home Club house is now located, at the corner of Colony and Foster streets. His father, John, presented the house to him with five and one-half acres of land on March 28, 1735. It is unquestionably the original house, for before its removal and alteration it bore every mark of antiquity, and many will remember its venerable appearance. Asaph, the grandson of William, here lived and reared his family and his sons, Selden, Sidney, Lauren1 and Noah, were the ancestors of most of the Merriams of modern Meriden.

1 Lauren was the father of Lauren and Nelson and built a house that formerly stood near the house of the late George W. Lyon, 138 Colony Street.

His farm extended west and included a large part of Grove Street. It was of him that so many Irishmen bought their building lots.

A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.

The fourth house, built by John, Jr., is in a condition that would distress its builder could he see it as it stands fronting the street-its joists and beams, like the ribs of some vertebrate monster of prehistoric days, exposed ; and showing through them the interior is revealed to him who looks.

The old house is certainly a wreck and as it is now would be much better de- cently buried. It stands on the west side of South Colony street a short distance south of the plant of The Meriden Electric Light Co. The lot was bought by John, Jr., in 1737, of Stephen Atwater, and doubtless he built the house soon after. He lived there for several years, but after his father's death he sold it

LD MEDA

BUTTER

Sold in Air Title

ACORN Ranges

Odor Proof Packages

JOHN MERRIAM, JR.'S HOUSE.

and it went through a succession of hands, finally becoming the home of Christo- pher Atwater. Early in the last century the property was acquired by Capt. Lit- tle. Of him children used to tell mysterious stories with bated breath. After- wards it became the property of Alfred Snow. Then Florence W. Shelly was the owner and later it became the home of Kate McGlynn. It is now owned by John W. Coe and Emma L. Cook.

A fifth Merriam house was standing until within a year or two at the west side of the junction of Capitol avenue and West Main street. It was built probably about 1760 by Joseph, Jr., the son of the first Joseph. By people of the last cen- tury it was known as the Asahel Merriam place. He died many years ago and of late years the house had been deserted.

EARLY HISTORY.

The question may arise, how can we be certain that these houses are the ones actually built and occupied by these different men? Of course there is no way to absolutely prove it. We have only probability to guide us. When an ancient house occupies what is known to be the site of the original one, the inference is that the present one is the original, without it can be shown that the first one was destroyed by fire or was grossly neglected. There is no reason why one of these old houses should not last indefinitely providing it has good care. The main cause of the destruction of old dwellings was that frequently there was no ven- tilation in the cellar. This caused the floor beams to decay and took the life from the foundation walls. In many cases the floor beams and sills have been replaced by new ones and the foundation walls reconstructed and recemented. One house in town, almost positively known to have been erected as early as 1740, is in the best state of preservation of any 'ancient dwelling in Meriden. This is be- cause it has always had the best of care. With proper attention one of these old homes ought to last 500 years. The reason they do not get such care is because people want new homes, and the old ones have been sold to those who have not been able to expend much money in their preservation. There are houses in Hart- ford, Farmington, New London and other places that are known to have been built 250 years ago, and they are still capable of lasting much longer. There is one feature about the ancient dwellings of Meriden that makes it hard to form an esti- mate of their age. In the towns mentioned mud or clay mortar in foundation walls and chimneys is a sign of a very early building,1 but in Meriden this method of con- struction was followed up to the beginning of the last century.

1 See page 186, "Early Connecticut Houses," by Isham and Brown ; two Rhode Island architects, who have made an exhaustive study of the subject.

A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.

CHAPTER VIII.

In the story of Meriden Farm, related in Chapter II., we learned that Edward Higbee made a purchase of a large tract of land of Seaukett, Indian. This was in the year 1664 while he was probably a tenant on Mr. Gilbert's farm. In 1668 the colony confirmed this purchase by a grant that was much contracted from the boundaries given by Seaukett ; but still Mr. Higbee and his successor, Mr. Cole, who bought the title in 1673, were in actual possession of at least 800 acres not- withstanding the colonial grant of only 257 acres. In other words, while in ac- tual legal control of the colonial grant they were squatters on the rest of the farm.1 Apparently no house was standing on Mr. Higbee's farm in 1668 but when he sold it to Henry Cole in 1673 the deed included "housing."

The Meriden boy's2 composition written nearly sixty years ago, already quoted, said that the house of Hiram Foster was built in 1669. As the first Meriden an- cestor of Mr. Foster acquired a large part of this old Cole or Higbee farm, and was the first purchaser to buy any portion of it, we may safely take it for granted that the house occupied by Hiram Foster, which stood on Colony street south of the junction with Kensington avenue, at what is now No. 464, was the one built by Edward Higbee about 1669; the date given in the composition fits in exactly with the records and is another proof of the accuracy of the schoolboy's informa- tion. This old house was no longer in existence when the composition was writ- ten and the present Foster house occupies the same site.

The residence of Mr. Cole on this farm made no impression on the records until his death on May 12, 1676. In that year the inventory of his estate was filed in the court of probate in New Haven. Although the owner of so large a farm his wealth was not large, for the land had probably been only slightly im- proved and land was worth but little until it had been cleared of forests and broken under the plough and until there was sufficient population to make a demand for farms. The inventory is curious and interesting for it shows how simple was the life of these early pioneers and how few of the comforts of life were in their possession.

1 There were undoubtedly many cases of this kind in the Colony. When the New Haven Committee in 1638 bought of Montowere "ten miles in length from North to South" they found whites already in possession of a portion of this territory and probably for a consideration the following clause was added at the end of the deed: "We, Robert Coggswell, Roger Knapp and James Love, doe hereby re- nounce all right to any and every part of the forementioned land ;" this was duly signed by these men. See N. H. Colonial Records, Vol. I., p. 7.

2 The late Henry S. Wilcox.

EARLY HISTORY.

AN INVENTORY OF YE ESTATE OF HENRY COLE WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE

MAY 12, 1676: 1

40 acres of land in Middletown bounds 20 lb: the farme by ye Road to Hartford 20 1b : 40:00:00

6 bush of indyan corne & some bedding 01:12:00

2 oxen 12 lb : 3 cows 12 lb : one 3 yeare old heifer 3 1b : a bull 4 yeares old 3 1b : a 2 yeare old steare 2 1b : 32:00:00

3 calves 30$ : 7 swine at 5 lb 5$ : 3 lesser swine 12S : a mare 30S : a two yeare old calf I ib: 09: 17:00

A yeare old colt 15S: a feather bed, bolsters & the blanketts 4 1b 6s 05:01:00

3 blanketts 2 lb : a beare skin & deare skin 3$ : bacon I lb: an iron pot I 1b: an iron pot 15s : 04:18:00

A brass kettle I 1b 2$ : a brass skillett1 6s : In pewter 15$ : 5 piggins2 9s: a can & wood bottle 3s : 02:15:00

A frying pan 5$ : a payre of tongs tramells3 & pot hooks 6s : 00:11 :00

In porke 2 lb 3 bushs of wheat 13$ 6d : 5 bushs & peck of Rye I 1b 2S: 10 bushs Indyan Corn 30S : 05:05:06 A meate barrell 3$ : a runlett4 2$ : 13 dry caske I 1b : a beare barrel 2$ : 6d : 01:07:06 2 spinning wheels 8$ : 2 chayrs 4S : a chest 8s : by wearing cloaths 2 1b : 03:00:00 2 payre of sheets 2 lb : homespun cloath 7 1b 7s : a bible 5$ a payre of cards5 2 : 09:14:00

Cart, hoops, boxes, 1 1b 16s ; chayne plow irons, span shakle I 1b IOS : 03:00:00 2 guns 2 lb : powder & shott 18s : 2 swords 12S : 2 stubbing hoes & 4 hoes 12 : 04:02:00 2 broad hoes 8s : a saw 5$ : 2 axes 5$ : coopers tools 3 1b IOS : 04:08:00

127:17:00

taken by us NATHLL MERRIMAN, ELISAPH PRESTON.

Henry Cole was a cooper, which accounts for the tools and large number of boxes, barrels, casks, etc. It is interesting to notice that there is no mention of a bedstead and that the total value of this large farm of at least 800 acres was only £20. The low valuation of the bear and deer skins show that "Hennerie" (as the old records sometimes quaintly called him) did not wander far from his door to obtain them. The mother with her ten children continued, probably, to reside on the farm until they were old enough to marry and move away. She then resided in Saybrook where she died in 1687. In that year a document was drawn up and signed by the various heirs, which appears on the probate records in New Haven in 1692.

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An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it, Part 9

Author: Gillespie, Charles Bancroft, 1865-1915; Curtis, George Munson Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Meriden, Conn. Journal publishing co. Number of Pages: 1252

Author: Gillespie, Charles Bancroft, 1865-1915; Curtis, George Munson
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Meriden, Conn. Journal publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1252